However, that’s where a lot of the thinking stops. We want to become the manager or work in marketing instead of sales, but we don’t do much to make it happen. For instance, let’s say you you want to be a designer. To advance in the proper way, you need to know the basics: UX Design, Front End Code, Branding, Application Virality, and some color basics, etc. In short, you have to know what you’re doing.

The reality is, if in the next 18 months you want to be at a certain level, you have to take steps to get there because no one is going to do it for you. That is all career management is. That’s what going to get you somewhere and that’s what going to advance your career.

If we look at the career landscape today, career management is not all about execution alone. It’s a lot of talk, a lot of promises, and perhaps a lot of wishing. However, how you manage and perform today will determine your professional life five, 10, maybe even 15 years from now. You can dream all you want, but you have to get in gear at some point.

So, what are you doing about it? How are you managing your career to ensure you advance? Check out these suggestions and start moving forward!

Have the goal in mind. It’s always important to to know where your career is going. It doesn’t have to be as specific as “Director of Design,” but you should still have a general idea of where you’d like to be, as well as a realistic timeframe. This will allow you to work towards something that’s personally fulfilling, not blindly towards a goal that may or may not be of interest to you.

Look around your organization. Above your desk and cube and think of what dream team or department you would like to be in. Imagine no limitations. Would you like to work on certain projects other teams are working on? Would you like to be more customer facing? Would you like more creativity in your group? Do you think you can make an impact in social media, marketing, project, or client services? Then start building relationships in those groups.

Figure out how to get there. If we continue with our example of aspiring to be the Director of Design, you may have to have certain things before you can even be considered for the role. You may need another degree. The field could require a certain number of years in a certain position. You may even have to learn programs that you’ve never even heard of.

Take time to speak to folks who have this role today, this position, and ask them how they would get there today. Would they take a different path? Would they avoid getting a degree? They generally can recommend a couple of shortcuts in your path. Reach out to them. Join several LinkedIn Groups, follow discussions of this type of position and participate in the community discussions. Posting a question on Quora or in a LinkedIn group is often one of the best ways to get from point A to B.

By figuring out what needs to be done on your end, you start to manage the way your career will eventually pan out. Plus, who knows, maybe learning code is really not your thing. Or maybe you’ll really dig it. Either way, you have to comprehend the work that needs to be done in order to reach the goal…only then will you be able to achieve it.

Tell a story. Once you’ve nabbed the degree or learned the programs, you of course need to pitch yourself to an employer or a new hiring manager in your organization. Here’s where career management comes in full swing. See, a potential employer doesn’t know the goals you’ve achieved, programs you know, people who have endorsed you, or how fast you can complete an objective. Managing your career with an online portfolio shows an employer what you can do for them and also advances your professional brand.

A visual work portfolio can really help you sell yourself and what you can do. This is a critical element in career management because you’re essentially taking control of what you want to do, putting you on the right path to career advancement, and more abstractly, personal fulfillment.

What do you think? Do you believe career advancement starts with career management? Why or why not?

Then, you receive a submission from a candidate that may have the same experience as the others, but draws you in in a different way. Yes, they have a resume and a cover letter, but it’s more than that. It’s a visual portfolio of their work.

Yes, it includes the resume — but it is secondary. It opens up with a visual portfolio of their work. It’s colorful, it’s vibrant, it does something that makes you want to know more. It leaves an impact on you.

So, what’s the difference? It actually could be science. 75 percent percent of the sensory neurons in our brains are processing visual information. Additionally, 72 hours after presenting information, the retention rate for text is 10 percent. The retention rate for images and visuals is 90 percent. One year later, retention rates of these same visuals hovered around 63 percent. In basic terms, image retention is greater than text retention.

If we go back to the manager example, the reason why the other candidate was so memorable may have been deeper than just their experience. It may have been because our brains are more attracted to pictures, graphics, or videos. So, if you were a candidate and you wanted to impress a potential employer, having visuals (in addition to great work experience) could be the key you need to not only be noticed, but to be remembered.

This coincides with the way our culture is shifting in general. We like looking at infographics. We like watching YouTube videos. We may even prefer a PowerPoint presentation over a written booklet that says the same thing. It’s not because visuals are necessarily better than text. It’s because many of us learn and remember things in a very innate and natural way–in this case, through images.

So, as a candidate, what’s going to do you the most good? Yeah, you need a resume, but could it be secondary? Think about opening up your cover letter with a true introduction of your work.

Sending a resume or cover letter, or having a visual portfolio of your work that does more than just state that you want the job?

We think the answer is pretty obvious. Tell your story, be memorable, and start being that candidate that an employer can’t stop thinking about. It will work out in your favor. After all, the proof is in the science.

What do you think? Do you believe that images have a greater impact than text when it comes to your professional future?

A long time ago, the Internet didn’t exist. It’s true. You’re really learning things today. But hang with me — can you remember the day when email didn’t exist? When looking for a job literally meant pounding the pavement or pulling out the newspaper to scan and circle the want ads? There’s no arguing that the Internet has drastically changed the way we find work. It’s also changed the way that work finds us.

If you’ve looked for a job, you’re tracking with me. You know that a lot more goes into finding work than just submitting your resume online. And if you’re an employer, you’re also hopping on this bandwagon faster than patchouli on hippies because you know that candidate research doesn’t stop with that piece of doggone of paper. Nope. Don’t you wish, recruiters? Wait, actually you probably don’t.

Recently there’s been a lot of opinions circling around the House of Representatives voting down a bill to restrict employer’s access to prospective and current employee Facebook pages. Where you stand on the issue isn’t important for our post today in so much as it’s a reflection of how much of our lives are now lived online and how that comes into play when we’re searching for a job.

So, what to do? Well, first of all don’t let your online life scare you. When it comes to the job search, it really is good to be “social.” Here’s why:

Facebook is Your Friend

Facebook is such an amazing resource if you learn how to harness its power. The first thing to remember is that while a good deal of vulnerability is ideal, not everything in your life needs to be shared. Learn to reign in your content by setting your privacy settings properly. Remember that both what you chose to share and who you chose to share it with is important. Keep your potential readers in mind. Above all, always be you — just not you on “Girls Night Out.” What happens in Vegas, should stay in Vegas. Ya get me?

Get Ta Tweetin’

When I first joined Twitter I was a real skeptic. But being the “werd nerd” I am, I was sucked in by the challenge of succinct writing — 140 characters. Later I learned the amazing benefits Twitter offers in terms of expanding one’s professional network in that you can search and follow people by common interest. And the real diamond-in-the-Twitter-rough: the Twitter Chat. Check out #hfchat, #hirefriday, #careerchat, #tchat, and #genychat. These are excellent resources on employment trends and great for networking with recruiters. If you’re too scared to participate (Twitter chats can be very overwhelming, especially if you’ve never been in one) you have my permission to lurk or read through the stream after the fact. Whatever you do, be sure to tell them Jocelyn at WorkSimple sent you!

Build a Visual Work Portfolio

LinkedIn tells a great story, albeit a static and text-heavy one. Look to other tools like Vizualize.me, Dribbble, and even Tumblr/Blogs that can tell a visual work story traditional resumes and LinkedIn often neglect to tell. In our image-centric culture, this can be the difference between landing a job or not. WorkSimple offers a more visual way of communication as well with our WorkStory feature. With the recent launch of the beta of our Personal Edition, now everyone can begin building their unique WorkStory.

Did you meet your current employer on FB? Do you have the most kickass Work Portfolio? Share your stories with us!

That’s what our Personal Edition is all about. So, here’s what it can do for you and your career to help you be that remarkable employee:

Promote the story of you. We’ve all got a story to tell. Long, short, or in between, why not promote your personal  professional story to make your brand as strong as possible? With WorkSimple’s Personal Edition, we make it pretty easy to share your stuff through a visual storyboard of your goals, accomplishments, and what other people are saying to you. When it comes down to it, no one is going to know the kind of potential you have if you don’t put yourself out there in a memorable way. We’ll help you get there.

Track your progress. Many times, a current or potential employer would like to see what you’re working on outside of just the goal. They want to see how you get there. With Personal Edition, you can actually track how you achieve certain objectives. This is particularly beneficial if timing is important for a co-worker or manager. For instance, if a company wants a candidate who can code a program in a certain timeframe, WorkSimple allows you to track your progress, as well as show how you accomplished it.

Keep everyone informed at all times. Think clueing your boss in on your work progress is just for performance reviews? Think again. At WorkSimple, our Personal Edition will not only let you track your progress, we give you the chance to keep your network informed of this progress through reports. Whether they are daily, weekly, or monthly, our Personal Edition allows you to keep a record of your amazing accomplishments whenever you need it. Plus, there won’t be any questions about what you’re working on because it’s right there in front of your colleague. Managing your career can’t get any easier than that, right?

Capture that thumbs up. We all like to get those work endorsements. It’s like a little ego boost for your career. With our Personal Edition, we allow you to capture the positive feedback from your network and display it for everyone to see. So, say you were working towards gaining three clients this month — you’ll not only be able to gain feedback on the goal, your manager, partner, or co-worker can even praise what you’ve achieved inside and outside of it. Pair that with all your other standout accomplishments and you have a recipe for not only career management, but career success. You can’t have one without the other.

What do you think? Have you used WorkSimple and do you think it can help you rock your career?

When we think about going a step further to display work history, we typically think about a portfolio, right? After all, they’re not for designers anymore. They’re for any professional who wants to portray what they’ve done and how they got there. However, apart from an “about.me” page or a list of awards you’ve won, there’s so much more to a portfolio. It has the potential to be something remarkable—and make you look remarkable in the process.

So, here’s what you didn’t know you needed in a work portfolio—and how you can make sure you get there:

Visual storyboard
When we picture a work portfolio, we sometimes imagine something pretty extravagant along the lines of a professional interior designer. However, as we noted, you don’t have to be in design to be visual. Your work portfolio can literally be a visually storyboard of what you’ve done and what you plan to do.

Think of your portfolio as the story of your professional brand, but with an added visual touch. You can display who’s endorsed you, goals you’re working on, completed objectives, reports, as well as any comments your audience may have. Plus, when you have a visual storyboard of your work, it makes it much more interesting to someone on the outside, which may be half the battle in today’s competitive job market.

Ability to socially share your work
We live in a social world, so why not show off your stuff? Displaying what you’ve done isn’t just for yourself. It’s for a potential manager, a co-worker, a CEO, or anyone else who could potentially be interested in what you’ve done. With portfolios, you can even share what goals you’re currently working on, as well as your progress towards them. This helps someone see what you’ve accomplished, as well as other objectives that are on the horizon.

Real-time reports
What better way to share what you’ve done than keeping everyone in the loop at all times? When your portfolio includes real-time reports that track your progress on a goal, people can see not only what you’re working on, but also the length of time it takes for you to get there.

Let’s face it, many employers want things accomplished in a certain timeframe. So, if you were in advertising and it typically takes you a week to design a mockup ad, you can actually show how long it took to complete little components within the goal, which lets someone on the outside see how you’d fit with their own objectives.

Feedback capture
Sometimes, we all need a little help with our goals. Did you know portfolios can also serve as a way to capture feedback from your network? Sure, it sounds a little out there for a portfolio, but it actually makes total sense.

Let’s say you were a developer and you were working on some new code for a program. You put up your work progress on your web portfolio and someone in your network notices what a great job you’ve done. They also relay that they weren’t aware of this particular way of doing things and that it will make things easier. So, just by capturing feedback, you suddenly look pretty educated on the goal, as well as the industry in general. Win-win, right?

Your professional reputation
Your reputation is important, particularly your professional one. Although it’s not as tangible as real-time reports or feedback capture, the ability to build your professional reputation can be just a valuable. Think about it: would you hire a candidate who says they are amazing or a candidate who proves that they are by way of a portfolio? Probably the latter. A portfolio is an easy way to build your reputation because it makes displaying your accomplishments, as well as the positive thoughts of others, easy—all of which contribute to the brand of you.

What do you think? What are some other things you need in a work portfolio?

So, although performance reviews are inevitable for many U.S. workers, how can you avoid the bad parts as much as possible and optimize yourself, as well as your work? How about doing an inward check?

What is an inward check?
An inward check is a way of looking back at yourself. Don’t just look at your corporation and your consumers–look within yourself. Although it’s easier to blame the manager or the co-worker, taking a look at yourself gives you a different perspective. Plus, you may need to shift your own attitudes to drive your career forward.

Why is it important?
An inward check is important because it allows you to anticipate what your performance review might cover. It’s also gives you a chance to verify how you view yourself versus how others do. For example, you know that you achieved five goals this quarter, but does your manager? Conversely, does your manager only know of the low points in your performance? It’s up to you to keep everyone, including yourself, informed.

By knowing exactly how you view yourself as opposed to how others do, it provides a fodder if review doesn’t go well. Essentially, you’d know exactly where to go if you’re faced with a performance review nightmare.

How can I perform an inward check?
Ask yourself simple questions: Do you understand the company’s goals? Are the company values clear in your mind? Have you set goals for your career? Pull together your answers and then ask yourself some follow-up questions: Where do you fit in with this company? What changes do you want to see in yourself?

Ultimately, you’ll establish who you want to be as a worker and where you want to go, which you can later relay in your performance review. For instance, if your manager asks what you want out of your role in the future, you can state your goals and how you’re going to get there. So, while many performance reviews can be unpredictable, you can ultimately avoid those awkward “why are you important” moments because you analyzed yourself and your role beforehand.

What do you think? Have you ever performed an inward check before a performance review? Was it helpful? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

For more helpful tips, tricks, and advice, download our FREE eBook, The Gen-Yer’s Guide to Surviving Your Performance Review!

Can a work portfolio shape your professional brand as well? We think so! Ultimately, your professional brand can be what you need to land that promotion, raise, or new job because it tells a story of you. Building your professional brand by way of your work portfolio is kind of like baking a cake. If you do everything right beforehand, the end result with be memorable (and tasty).

Here’s how to make it happen:

Read the recipe
When you bake a cake for the first time, you should always read the recipe. It’s the same with your work portfolio, with the aim of shaping your professional brand. Do your research in regards to what elements will enhance you. What kind of accomplishments are admirable in your industry? What sort of endorsements do you need? What’s going to make you stand out? By doing your research beforehand, you’ll be in a better position to create a more solid work portfolio.

Gather the ingredients
Based on the recipe for a stellar work portfolio, you need to gather the ingredients to not only prepare the portfolio, but to also ensure you’re building the right sort of professional brand. The key is to figure out which components would work best for you and your industry.

For instance, does it look better to focus on goals related to you as an individual or a team? Who’s going to be looking at it? Will your professional brand be enhanced if you included social elements or is your industry the more pen and paper type? Gathering the right parts of the puzzle will help you to shape your professional brand since it’s catered to your industry’s taste.

Make the dish
Here’s the fun part: start cooking! Your work portfolio can be made in a myriad of ways, and many times, it’s dependent on what’s going to work for you. However, there are platforms out there that can be used for any industry, whether you’re a designer or a marketer.

Additionally, the solution to building a work portfolio in a way that’s going to portray a good professional brand is to be consistent. Update your work, show your goals and progress often, provide status reports, get those endorsements, and capture all of your accomplishments. This way, you’ll be on the path to building something that’s unique to you and your image.

Serve it up
What’s the point of making something if you don’t share it, right? Share your professional work portfolio by getting it out, either through a link on your website, directly, or even on a business card. When people see the work you’ve done, the image of what kind of employee you are will begin to form. Managers will notice what you’re good at, what your core skills are, and how you experience can help move a company from point A to point B.

Think of it this way: you may only be as good as your professional brand. Make sure you serve a big plate of it through your work portfolio because that’s the only way people can really see the whole picture.

What do you think? What are some other ways to use your work portfolio to shape your professional brand?

As you walk out, you suddenly remember you never mentioned that you helped design the company website. And you collaborated with a team member to write advertising copy. Oh wait, you also never brought up that you’re currently working with a co-worker to manage some interns. Now what? You can’t just go back and do the performance review again, right? How can you learn from this?

Managing all career activity is absolutely necessary when it comes to taking control of your professional image. Without it, you may be stuck in the situation we illustrated above, which can also decrease your chances of a promotion and career advancement. The easiest way to manage yourself is to keep an up-to-date work portfolio so you’re not surprised in a meeting with your manager. So, here are some questions you should ask yourself, which will ultimately help you manage not only your portfolio, but your career in the process:

What’s relevant?
As we noted in the example above, your manager obviously had no idea that you were working on these other goals. Though at the time they may not have been relevant or directly correlated to your job, the fact is they may have made an impact. So, it’s important to note what’s really important in your work portfolio, particularly the things that created revenue or an image boost for your organization.

What are you working on right now?
Some goals are in progress, and that’s okay. Think of your work portfolio as an opportunity to tell a story—a story that’s currently not completely formed, but on its way. Your work portfolio can be an avenue for tracking goals, as opposed to just saying what you’re working on. This shows your manager how a goal grows, as well as your role in its evolution.

Who likes it?
Work portfolios can also serve as a feedback or endorsement hub. For example, if you noted that you were working on that advertising copy, you can use an online portfolio to ask for real-time feedback and endorsements of your work. By doing so, you allow your supervisor to see you not only worked on a particular project, but you also got the thumbs up or feedback from your network, which you took into consideration as you moved forward.

Are you keeping everyone informed?
Work portfolios aren’t only for you. They’re also for everyone else as well, so keep this in mind when you’re managing the content. For instance, your goals can be measured and then relayed to your manager and co-workers through weekly reports. So, if there’s a question on what you’re working on this month, the reports—which are based on goal progress—can be the crystal clear evidence a person would need to ensure work is being done, as well as a way to give you feedback in real-time.

What do you think? What are some other ways to manage your work portfolio?

Career management boils down to how well you keep track of what you do, as well as letting you see what you can improve on. The overarching benefit is then obvious: taking control of what you do and how you do it makes you a better worker. Plus, if you’re aware and monitor everything you’ve done (because it is hard to remember down the road), you’ll be in a better position if you have to report your work in the future.

For many people, career management is based off of things like performance reviews (did we mention we aren’t fans?), but there is room for you to do a little management yourself. Here’s how:

Keep track of everything
A huge part of managing your career is keeping of track of everything you do. This includes more than just your accomplishments. It includes every focus, goal, collaboration, as well as what everything amounted to. Using numbers or metrics with the latter can add substantial evidence to your professional brand and lets everyone see what you do well.

It’s also part of being a great employee. What makes the best employees is that they communicate their efforts, where they fall short, and their success and impact is broadcasted. This keeps them focused and always aligned with their team, supporting their immediate and long-term needs. This allows them to juggle priorities.

Think of it this way: you want to give anyone—be it a current manager, future boss, co-worker, etc.—everything necessary to ensure you’re looked at as a remarkable employee. Keeping track of your collective WorkStory is therefore an essential part of the process.

Get the thumbs up from your network
Another important part of career management is getting people to do the talking for you. This is not to say that you should use your network for your own benefit. On the contrary, you should look to your network to endorse when they’re already aware of.

Getting essential recommendations can help you manage your career in a variety of ways. First, it lets you backup your accomplishments should you need an opinion of another. Next, network endorsements are also good for your career ego—and can give you the confidence you need when your work is evaluated or questioned.

Build a visual portfolio
Work portfolios are a great way to physically manage your career. While they let you take control of everything you’ve done, it also puts it all in one place. For example, if you take things like those endorsements and goals you’ve accomplishments and present them in a visually appealing way, it allows you to show not only yourself, but also a present or future manager everything they’d need, which can also include weekly reports, what you’re currently working on, and praise and feedback.

Plus, let’s not forget that a visual dashboard is a lot more attractive than verbally saying you did something. It paints a picture and tells a story, giving your career that added boost it needs.

What do you think? Is career management the key to strong work performance? Why or why not?

Every generation has their individual advantages. While many view the personality traits of Gen Y as a bad thing, they may be able to put Gen Y at a competitive career advantage than members of other generation groups. Here’s why:

Up-to-date generation

Gen Y may be dependent on the Web and social networks, but that’s not a bad thing. Recent statistics indicate that this generation are on social networks like Twitter “all the time.” Though this may not always be for job searching or learning about an industry, it’s not too far fetched to assume that Gen Y is up-to-date with news, trends, and sharing, three things that may be needed to stay on top of your game.

Innovative portfolios

We’ve said before that work portfolios may be the modern day resume. So, who better to embrace this new visual storyboard than Gen Y? After all, this generation embraces images, endorsements, feedback, as well as their reputation. All of these elements can go into a work portfolio, which not only makes Gen Y look good, but also feeds off their current personality traits. These work portfolios also help Gen Y manage their career inside the organization — helping them get promoted and recognized for a job well done, which in turn helps to beat the dreaded performance review, and enhances their professional brand.

Showing off is a good thing

Some may believe that members of Gen Y are narcissistic and obsessed with standing out. But, what if this could actually work to their advantage?

Let’s look at it from the perspective of an employer. Ultimately, they want to know why a candidate would be an asset to an organization. The only way they can know this is if they see numbers, reports, endorsements, etc. Gen Y, who are naturals at displaying why they rock, have the competitive career advantage because many aren’t shy about showing off their results, both personally and professionally. It’s not so much about being boastful, it’s about displaying why you’re a pro, which something no one should hide.

What do you think? Why else do Gen Y have the competitive career advantage?